A spurned wife who poured boiling water over her estranged husband’s mistress wept as she was led away in handcuffs to begin a five-year jail term.

Monika Fourie, 34, threw hot water from a cup and then a kettle on to Hannah Stokes at the matrimonial home in 2015, causing burns to her head, neck and chest.

Plymouth Crown Court heard Miss Stokes had begun an affair with Fourie’s now ex-husband, South African-born Royal Marine Wouter Fourie, that summer.

Monika Fourie (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Days before the attack Mr Fourie had confessed to the extra-marital relationship and the defendant had left their home in Plymouth to stay with a friend but unexpectedly returned on the night of October 24 to find Miss Stokes on the sofa watching the television.

Polish-born Fourie said she was going to make a cup of tea but instead poured a cup of boiling water over Miss Stokes.

She then returned to the kitchen, picked up the kettle and went back to the lounge where Miss Stokes was screaming and grabbed her by the hair and tipped the remaining contents of the kettle over her.

Miss Stokes was treated for second degree partial thickness burns down to her navel and had surgery for a perforated eardrum.

The court heard she faces going deaf in her right ear, with further surgery unlikely to succeed. She has also been turned down for NHS cosmetic surgery and needs to find £10,000 to go private.

“The last two years have been the worst two years of my life and it feels like it has been on pause,” she said in a statement.

“My parents have had to watch me go through two years of emotions and seen me at my lowest. With the verdict I feel I can put a stop to this chapter of my life. I feel I can move on.”

The mother-of-one said she had no memory of the incident and afterwards sent text messages to a relative in Poland saying “revenge is sweet” and “the bitch will pay more”.

Fourie, of Olympic Way, Glenholt, Plymouth, Devon, was convicted by a jury of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.